Altar Ego: April 2022

Column for syndication -- May 1st weekend

The Sin of the Undone

"May I call a priest for you?" might not be something you'd want to hear, but I find that it's a welcome offer to our Catholic patients in hospice care.

Recently, I was visiting a patient in a nursing facility and noticed she was praying with her rosary beads.

When I asked if she'd like me to call the Father, the octogenarian's response took me aback.

"Why?" she asked.

"Well, perhaps he would bring the Sacrament of the Sick."

If you aren't Catholic, you'd likely call this the "Last rites." But the church renamed it Sacrament of the Sick to emphasize its use for all illness, terminal or not.

"No," she said, "I've already received that."

"Perhaps he could hear your confession."

Again with the "Why?"

I stammered a bit, answering only with an open palm. She continued.

"All I do is lie here all day. I haven't done anything that needs confessing."

We shared a chuckle over the truth of her claim. Years had likely passed since her last "sin." She was well loved by family, staff and our visiting hospice team.

A few minutes later we concluded our visit by reciting the Lord's Prayer together.

I didn't think of her again until my visit to Trailhead Church last month in Edwardsville, Illinois. The church sits outside St. Louis, across the Mo. state line. Although nondenominational, the staff borrowed from their liturgical roots.

I first recognized that connection when the worship minister had us recite the Prayer of Confession.

I'm embarrassed to say that the scripted litany of high church often sends me into unfeeling autopilot. My Baptist tradition normally shuns prewritten prayers, favoring the extemporaneous instead.

Somewhere in my muddle, I heard something about confessing the sins of "thought, word, and deed." I expected the usual list of suspects -- lust, lying and stealing. Yada, yada, yada.

I sympathized with my patient. Nothing to confess.

However, somewhere mid-prayer, a phrase caught my attention. It was an assertion that we can sin not only "by what we have done" but "by what we have left undone."

Left undone? Like what?

The prayer specifically calls out our lack of devotion to God and to his people.

"We have not loved you with our whole heart…
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves."

Those two phrases laid bare my patient's claim that one need confess only what one has done wrong.

By the prayer's standard, there is much to confess.

There aren't enough priests in town to hear confession for the times we've been silent in the face of injustice, hurt and pain.

I've sat silently as I allowed the bigot to rage. I've remained mute to the cries of the unhoused. I've been reticent in fighting injustice.

And what about the times I should have stayed a little longer, listened a little deeper and loved more intentionally? My sins of omission are perhaps greater than those who lie, cheat or steal.

But gratefully, the prayer leaves me hopeful as it promises mercy and forgiveness.

Today, whether you count yourself in the Christian tradition or from another, I think we all would benefit from examining our hearts and confessing what "we have left undone."

This prayer suggests a model for all our traditions. Pray it with me today as our world struggles to know this mercy.

Merciful God,

We confess that we have sinned against you

in thought, word, and deed;

by what we have done,

and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole

heart and soul and mind and strength.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Lord, in your mercy,

forgive what we have been,

transform what we are,

and remind us what we will be,

so that we may delight in your will

and walk in your ways,

to the glory of your holy name.

Read Norris' past columns at www.thechaplain.net. Send comments to comment@thechaplain.net or 10566 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, Calif. 95602 or via voicemail (843) 608-9715.

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PS My favorite tax-deductible charity is Chispa Project. Chispa starts libraries in Honduran elementary schools. Make contributions online at www.chispaproject.org or send checks to Chispa Project 10556 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, Calif. 95602.

Column for syndication -- April 22-24 2022

TAXING FRIEND FINDS NO DEDUCTION FOR INTEGRITY

"We apologize, but the processing of your 2021 tax return has been delayed beyond the normal timeframe."

This is the message you'll likely see on the IRS website if you've only just now filed your tax return. That's because the confusing 2021 tax regulations may send your return to taxpayers' purgatory.

No worries. If you had professional help filing your return, you'll probably be OK.

Hopefully, you didn't turn to your pastor for assistance, as did Phil, one of my church members from some years ago.

Phil was new to my church so I was anxious to assist him if he would agree to let me ask the tax questions while he recorded the actual figures.

He agreed to those terms, so on April 15, we sat down at his kitchen table to begin the interview. I gently asked the income questions and he read some high figures off his W-2. Unfortunately, the same form showed he'd withheld very little taxes during the previous year.

"Good news," I said. "You've got some deductions to counteract that. You have a new home as well as child-care expenses."

Those comforting words quickly proved premature.

"Write your childcare costs on this line," I said.

Without looking at his personal records, he wrote what appeared to be a round estimate of a few thousand dollars.

"Write the name of the childcare facility here," I said.

He wrote his mother-in-law's name.

"Wow, you paid your children's grandmother $2,000?"

"No, he admitted. "She watches them for free, but her services are easily worth two grand."

"It doesn't work that way," I explained. "If you didn't pay it, you can't claim it."

"How do they know what I paid her?" he asked.

"Let's move on," I suggested. "Let's look at your contributions."

"I'm in good shape there," he said. "I give $100 a week. Again, his math sounded like an estimate. "You'll need receipts from the church," I warned.

He shrugged, claiming that he'd always thrown cash into the collection plate, never bothering to keep track of the amount. He insisted that he didn't make his contributions for tax purposes – only for God.

Well, so much for keeping accurate records.

The story of this taxing friend brings to mind the truism I often hear from healthcare supervisors: "If you didn't chart it, you didn't do it."

It's an axiom that also applies when we claim to have integrity in our life. We can claim it, but at the end of the day, don't be surprised if people challenge you for a measurement of that integrity.

Phil claimed integrity in the strongest of voices, but he did so with the declaration of entitlement. He was certain that everyone – including the IRS – should trust him just because he said so. By refusing to allow his integrity to be measured, he risked being labeled the thing he most detested: a cheat.

His claims reminded me of an old story about a woman who was offered $1,000 for illicit relations with a rich playboy. When the woman agreed too quickly, he stammered to adjust his price.

"Er, uh, I meant $100," he countered.

"Absolutely not!" she said. What kind of woman do you think I am?"

"Madam," he said, "We've already established what kind of woman you are. Now, we're just haggling over the price."

When I left Phil at his kitchen table, he was still haggling with his integrity. I'm not sure what he decided to put on his return. But I do wonder if he ever discovered that there are no deductions for integrity, only audits.

Wishing all my readers today, "Many happy returns!"

PS My favorite tax-deductible charity is Chispa Project. Chispa starts libraries in Honduran elementary schools. Make contributions online at www.chispaproject.org or send checks to Chispa Project Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, Calif. 95602.

New Column Norris Burkes -- (c) 916-813-8941

Subject:
Click on the spelling in column

Column:

Unbelievably, I misspelled the name of the Roman governor. It is NOT "Pilot.

It is "Pontius Pilate."

New Column Norris Burkes -- (c) 916-813-8941

Subject:
Click on the spelling in column

Column:

Unbelievably, I misspelled the name of the Roman governor. It is NOT "Pilot.

It is "Pontius Pilate."

Column for syndication -- Easter weekend 2022 -- same copy as last email

Editors – same copy as last email, just correcting the date in the subject line.

The Failed Insurrection

No matter what you've read, I can promise you this - the insurrection was put down quickly and decisively. The anarchists occupying the garden never really had a chance.

They barely seemed to know it was coming when the occupying powers, caving to the demand of religious leaders, issued an arrest warrant for their insurgency leader.

"Bring this Jesus to me," said Pilot, the Roman prefect (governor) of Judaea. "Let's see what kind of leader he claims to be. Does he think himself their king, their God? If so, I'll make sure he becomes just another revolutionary nailed to a tree."

Gaining Pilot's approval, the deputized posse stormed the Gethsemane Garden, a place where Jesus was known to hang with the homeless. The officers expected a fight, or at least hoped to instigate one. They came armed with clubs and swords.

To be certain of their target, they bribed a Jesus insider, a real Judas, to plant an identifying kiss on Jesus' cheek.

The subject himself offered no resistance. After all, no matter what the prostitutes and degenerate cripples said, Jesus was just a man.

The only struggle came when a sword-packing follower sliced off a deputy's ear. Eyewitnesses claimed Jesus miraculously reattached it, but the religious leaders dismissed that as fake news.

Others claimed that Jesus' quiet surrender paved his way to martyrdom. By the time their claim gained traction, Jesus would become much more than a martyr.

Early the next morning, the pathetic arrestee was hauled before Pilot where the governor asked him if he thought himself to be a king.

No response. Only unassuming surrender.

This is going to be easy," Pilot must have thought. "I'll make him king -- King of Calvary's Hill."

So much for this petty uprising.

"Not so fast," pleaded the first lady. "I had a bad dream about him. You shouldn't have anything to do with him."

"Dreams! Probably just something you ate," Pilot told his wife.

Then, with a pontific wave, Pilot motioned Jesus into the hands of tormentors who mockingly crowned him with a wreath of puncturing thorns. Nice touch.

In the meantime, Pilot washed his hands. Just another day living in the dream seat of power. Insurrection squashed.

By Friday afternoon, it was a done deal. Even Jesus knew it by then: "It is finished!"

The government prosecution of the fledgling rebellion was far-reaching and absolute. The orders were signed and sealed, then executed with the utmost prejudice.

But Pilot had looked at this all wrong.

He, as well as the religious folks who'd concocted the charges, had operated under the misguided assumption that the coup would come by force.

You can't blame them. It was also the shared assumption of Jesus' disciples, including Judas, their disgruntled group treasurer.

It was only Friday, but Sunday was coming.

Such Friday assumptions are often shared by Christians two thousand years later. There are people who claim in Jesus' name that they must defend God's Kingdom by force or intimidation.

They go to their school board meetings with open Bibles demanding that certain books be removed. Others threaten county supervisors while decisions are debated about health and quarantine.

Sadly, some even take their swords and clubs to the steps of the nation's capital where they hope to reinstate their king.

Some seek to advance God's Kingdom by packing the nation's highest court in hopes wrongs will be overturned. Yet, they find that righteousness can't be legislated.

Easter tells me that God's Kingdom won't be established through votes, protest marches, or mob rule by either side. Liberals will never bring the Kingdom of God by legislating an earthly utopia and conservatives cannot morph God's Kingdom into Christian Nationalism.

Jesus made this point when he was asked in Luke 17:21 when the kingdom of God would come.

"The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you" (Message Translation).

Sadly, some still look for the Kingdom insurrection in all the wrong places.

On that long-ago first Easter morning, when a few women dared enter Jesus' empty tomb, they were confronted by angels, asking, "Why do you seek the living among the dead. The one you are looking for is risen" (Luke 24:6).

The words were final witness to the fact that God's Kingdom has never been about an insurrection.

His Kingdom has always pointed toward the Resurrection, both his and ours.

Happy Easter.

Read Norris's past columns at www.thechaplain.net Send comments to comment@thechaplain.net or 10566 Combie Rd. Suite 6643 Auburn, Calif. 95602 or via voicemail (843) 608-9715.

Column for syndication -- April 1-3 2022